With a little over two weeks until the April 15 filing deadline, experts are predicting this year’s tax season to be one of the most chaotic and uncertain ever. The reason? Several major Obamacare regulations, including the employer mandate and the individual mandate are in effect for the first time.

The US tax code is already one of the most complex in the world. The IRS estimates that complying with the tax code costs Americans 6.6 billion hours per year and new Obamacare mandates will add yet another layer of complexity on top of an already confusing process. This year, many taxpayers will unknowingly owe the federal government more in taxes, or will owe a penalty fee. Others may believe they owe a penalty, but in fact do not.

An estimate provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation predicated that over 95 percent of individuals that receive a subsidy through enrollment on an Obamacare exchange calculated their income incorrectly. As a result, over half of Obamacare subsidy recipients will likely owe the federal government more money.

The reason for this chaos is because Obamacare provided subsidies early in the year based on an estimate of an individual’s income. The law’s authors incorrectly assumed that income levels would remain largely static year to year. Now, taxpayers must navigate through a set of complex regulations in order to figure out if they paid too much, or too little. With tax season approaching, up to 7.5 million households could be left to figure out how to comply with these confusing new regulations.

Despite this confusion, taxpayers shouldn’t expect to get any help from the federal government. Already, an “erroneous glitch” in Obamacare tax forms meant 800,000 tax returns were sent out with incorrect information. Many families that had already filed taxes were, or will be forced to file amended returns.

In fact, calling the IRS is unlikely to help because the agency does not answer phone calls at local offices, and they have even removed the option for taxpayers to leave messages, even if for the elderly or disabled. Calling the national hotline will do little better, because less than half of calls will be answered, and those that are face a wait time of over 30 minutes.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen recently claimed that his current budget will force the agency to send refunds more slowly, perform fewer audits and even shut down for several days over the coming year. The agency is pleading poverty, but according to the Annual Report to Congress released by the National Taxpayer Advocate, the IRS has failed to prioritize past budget decisions. According to the report:

The problem is not that the IRS does not have the information available. To the contrary, as the report explains:

“While IRS collected some data that it could use to evaluate effectiveness, it did not develop plans to analyze the data or track it in a way that would allow officials to draw causal connections and develop valid conclusions about the effectiveness of its 2014 service changes.”

While the IRS is crying foul about its funding, it has not even attempted to properly ensure that scarce taxpayer funds are allocated effectively. As a result, the report states:

“the IRS has come under scrutiny by external oversight organizations who have questioned the IRS’s rationale for its budget decisions. They have not been satisfied with the IRS’s response to their inquiries.”

National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley claims that the agency is “struggling to keep the lights on”, however the IRS has failed to properly prioritize funding even when budgetary pressure did not exist. The agency has failed to produce a single report on tax complexity since 2002, despite federal law requiring one be compiled each year.

When asked by the NTA to explain why this had not happened, the IRS said it would require “about two full time employees working for about a year” to produce the report. The IRS has 82,982 full time employees.

Although the IRS claims it needs more taxpayer dollars, an analysis by Cato Institute economist Dan Mitchell, shows the IRS’s budget has doubled in the past 30 years, even after adjusting for inflation. While its funding has declined since 2010, it remains higher than mid 2000s levels. In fact, as the NTA points out, the IRS’s refusal to compile these reports is actually making their jobs harder:

“While the IRS would need to spend some resources to produce the complexity report, these costs pale in comparison to the costs of complexity. Moreover, if they prompt a reduction in tax complexity, the reports might ultimately help the IRS do its job and reduce the cost of administering the tax code.”

The above cited material can be found on pages 26-30 & 102-108 of Volume One of the National Taxpayer Advocate’s Annual Report to Congress.

The Obama Administration has quietly ended a tax assistance program that assisted low-income Americans file their taxes, despite Congress fully funding the program. Instead, the administration has given millions of dollars to liberal groups to perform the same role.

According to a report by the Daily Caller, the administration is giving $12 million in federal grants to community service groups through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program in place of the federal program. Unsurprisingly, many of the largest grants issued under this program have gone to groups that have close political ties to the Obama Administration. A recent investigation by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that these so-called “volunteer community groups” had a 49 percent failure rate.

The IRS justified the elimination of this program as a “resource management decision.” However, it is clearly a move by the Obama Administration to provide backdoor funding to its liberal allies. As ATR’s Ryan Ellis points out:

“There is a long history of using supposedly neutral government resources to fund the activists and organizers who have all sorts of agendas. It’s not surprising at all that they would be using IRS resources to essentially subsidize some of these organizations.”

According to the National Taxpayer Advocate’s Annual Report to Congress, the administration cancelled the tax assistance program without properly evaluating the impact it would have on low-income Americans. The tax assistance program had enjoyed longstanding bipartisan support and the program was fully funded by congress despite other parts of the IRS budget facing cutbacks.

This degradation of taxpayer assistance comes at a time when filing taxes is more complex than ever, in part due to several Obamacare provisions coming into effect this year including the employer mandate and the individual mandate. In fact, IRS commissioner John Koskinen raised concerns late last year that the 2015 tax filing season could be delayed, in part due to Obamacare.

ATR President Grover Norquist today sent a letter to members of Congress urging against an increase in the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) fee which would raise the cost of air travel for passengers.

The proposed 90 percent fee increase is entirely unnecessary because airports already have ample funding for infrastructure investment and have successfully financed numerous projects over the past few years. As the letter states:

Since 2008, the 30 largest airports in the nation have spent nearly $70 billion on completed, underway or approved airport capital projects to improve their infrastructure. At the same time, airports have enjoyed a revenue increase of 52% since 2000, far exceeding the consumer price index which rose just 35% in the same time period. Given this period of prosperity, it is puzzling that airports are now pleading poverty and asking passengers to pay more.

Doubling the PFC would result in yet another increase in the cost of air travel for passengers. Already taxes and fees make up 21% of the cost of air travel. As the letter states:

Air passengers are already overburdened by government taxes and fees – taxes make up 21% of the cost of an average domestic flight, and passengers paid $20.5 billion in taxes last year. While airports are requesting a seemingly modest $4 increase in the PFC, this proposal represents a $2.8 billion annual tax increase on air passengers.

ATR President Grover Norquist today released a letter of support for the recently released U.S. Senate Budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2016. This budget balances the budget by promoting fiscally responsible solutions that reins in the bloated federal deficit. In particular, this proposal repeals Obamacare and its numerous job killing regulations, reforms the healthcare system, and protects seniors through strengthening Medicare and Medicaid.

Perhaps most importantly, this budget proposal also maintains the spending restrictions mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011, which will lead to $1.79 trillion in savings through 2021.

See the full letter below:

Dear Chairmen Enzi,

On behalf of Americans for Tax Reform, I write in strong support of the U.S. Senate budget proposal. The budget blueprint authored by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) will ensure that Washington lives within its means by balancing the budget in less than ten years and cutting $5.1 trillion in federal spending over a ten-year period.

The budget proposal calls for reforms to struggling entitlement programs, clamps down on inefficient and ineffective government programs, and lays the groundwork for strong economic growth. The plan also empowers the states to make their own decisions by applying federalist principles.

Notably, the Senate budget repeals Obamacare in its entirety and reforms the health care system to increase access to affordable care while providing patients with better medical choices. Repealing Obamacare would eliminate numerous job killing regulations including the employer mandate and the individual mandate. In place of this complex system, the Senate budget prioritizes a patient-centered approach that gives power back to the individual.

In order to protect our seniors, the Senate budget ensures the solvency of the Medicare trust fund by five years. It applies the savings dictated by law to the program as it repeals the harmful Independent Payment Advisory Board. Moreover it keeps to the savings goals proposed by the president but maintains ultimate financial decision-making agency with congressional committees working with beneficiaries.

Finally, the budget implements improvements to Medicaid. Specifically, it repeals the Obamacare Medicaid expansion and instead expands the Children’s Health Insurance Program to protect our most precious charges.

The Senate Budget maintains the spending restrictions mandated in the Budget Control Act of 2011, ensuring the continuation of the savings from discretionary spending. In contrast to the White House budget, which ignores 2011 spending caps and raises spending through misleading promises, the Senate budget abides by federal law.

It is important to keeps the caps in place that have stabilized federal spending since 2011 and will lead to $1.79 trillion in savings through 2021. You should be congratulated for proposing a more fiscally responsible solution despite the urging of some of his more reckless colleagues to break spending caps and undo years of fiscal restraint.

We urge the Senate to support this bold pro-growth proposal. It returns power to states and localities while making great, positive strides in the tax code.

Norquist discusses America’s history as a low tax nation starting in 1774, when the 13 colonies were paying just 1-2 percent of their income in taxes. Since then, both federal and state governments have consistently raised the tax burden on Americans through a complex web of tax hikes justified by emergencies, wars, and displacing other taxes.

Today, ATR President Grover Norquist released a letter in support of the US House of Representatives budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2016. This budget proposal puts forth a set of fiscally responsible solutions that balances the budget and reins in out of control federal spending by cutting trillions of dollars. At the same time the resolution preserves the landmark caps on spending which have kept government largess under control.

The budget proposal also calls for the full repeal of Obamacare, strengthening and securing Medicare and Medicaid, introducing lower and more competitive taxes, creating and protecting jobs and funding national security in a responsible way. See the full letter below:

Dear Chairmen Price:

On behalf of Americans for Tax Reform, I write in strong support of the recently released U.S. House of Representatives budget proposal. The budget blueprint authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) will ensure that Washington lives within its means by balancing the budget in less than ten years and cutting $5.5 trillion in federal spending.

The budget proposal calls for a fairer, simpler tax code, reforms struggling entitlement programs, clamps down on inefficient and ineffective government programs, and lays the groundwork for strong economic growth. The plan also empowers the states to make their own decisions by restoring the principle of federalism.

By keeping to the proposed reforms, Congress stands to secure America’s economic prospects, protect jobs, and accelerate economic development to levels which would be unattainable given the current spending policies. Lower, flatter taxes plus a competitive international tax regime would enshrine our place as the world’s number 1 destination for entrepreneurship. Simply put, asking taxpayers to pay $160 billion per year is an undue burden that we can do without.

Notably, the House budget repeals Obamacare in its entirety and reforms the health care system to increase access to affordable care and provide patients with better medical choices. Repealing Obamacare would eliminate numerous job killing regulations including the employer mandate and the individual mandate. In place of this complex system, the House budget prioritizes a patient-centered approach that gives power back to the individual.

Repealing Obamacare will also put a stop to the raiding of the Medicare trust fund. In turn, this will help secure and strengthen Medicare so the program can continue to provide retirees with the care that they deserve. The budget will also build a new premium support program for Medicare that will further empower seniors to make their own choices.

Finally, the budget implements improvements to Medicaid. Specifically, it repeals the Obamacare Medicaid expansion and grants increased flexibility to the states, which will allow the states the opportunity to build a strong and sustainable system of Medicaid that suits their needs.

The House Budget maintains the spending restrictions mandated in the Budget Control Act of 2011, ensuring the continuation of the savings from discretionary spending. In contrast to the White House budget, which ignores 2011 spending caps and raises spending through misleading promises, the House budget abides by federal law. The budget allocates funding to the DOD’s Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) fund to meet the complex and dangerous global threats, balanced by cuts to mandatory spending.

It is important to keeps the caps in place that have stabilized federal spending since 2011 and will lead to $1.79 trillion in savings through 2021. You should be congratulated for proposing a more fiscally responsible solution despite the urging of some of his more reckless colleagues to break spending caps and undo years of fiscal restraint.

We urge the House Budget committee to support this bold pro-growth proposal. It returns power to states and localities while making great, positive strides in the tax code.

In the latest edition of the Grover Norquist Show, ATR President Grover Norquist discusses criminal justice reform and the role of second amendment rights in reducing crime.

In the podcast, Norquist points out the link between states that have higher numbers of conceal carry permits and lower violent crime. Ideally, criminal justice should be not just about arresting individuals who have already committed a crime, but also in ensuring a climate that can prevent crimes from occurring in the first place. Conceal carry is a smart, efficient, and low cost way to reduce crime.

Earlier this month, Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) released their plan to reform the tax code based on two guiding principles - pro-growth and pro-family. While the plan has earned praise from a diverserange of experts, critics have resorted to using outdated models to undermine the proposal.

One line of opposition to the Rubio-Lee tax plan is based on skepticism that it will not lead to the growth that its authors promise. However, an analysis by the Tax Foundation debunks the claims made by critics such as William Gale of the Tax Policy Center. As the analysis states:

Gale notes the study's estimate that a revenue-neutral switch to a flat-tax - a type of consumption tax - would "raise GDP by 4 percent over a decade." However, under assumptions closer to ours, the same study finds a flat-tax would raise GDP by 5.9 percent over the long-run.

In addition, the Auerbach-Kotlikoff model used by critics assumes a 'closed' economy, which is unrealistic in today’s globalized economy, according to the Tax Foundation analysis:

The 2001 Auerbach-Kotlikoff model assumes a closed economy, i.e. we have no saving abroad to bring home and foreigners can't send more of their saving here to help finance additional U.S.-based capital. That's a major, unrealistic constraint. Today's economy is globalized; trillions of dollars of investment flow between the U.S. and the rest of the world. We assume an open economy where shifts in our own and foreign saving to the U.S. finance the build-out of capital.

The Tax Foundation study concludes that Rubio-Lee will increase growth by 15% over 10 years, will reduce the tax burden placed on families, and will encourage growth. As the analysis states:

The Rubio-Lee plan is not revenue-neutral. It is a big tax cut, to the tune of $414 billion a year or 2.2 percent of GDP, according to our static estimate. Such a tax cut would raise GDP by about 6.6 percent, according to empirical estimates by leading economists such as Christina Romer, former chair of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors. Add that to the Auerbach-Kotlikoff 9.4 percent estimate of a revenue-neutral tax reform and you get 16 percent growth in GDP - more than our 15 percent estimate of the Rubio-Lee plan.

As ATR’s Ryan Ellis notes, this plan “has a little something for everyone” – families, small businesses, and savers. In doing so, Rubio-Lee presents itself as smart proposal that can appeal to a broad base of taxpayers.

Love fossils but struggling to interact with your fellow enthusiasts? The federal government has got your back. Last year, the National Science Foundation awarded a grant of $1.97 million to create a social media platform for fossil enthusiasts according to the 2014 Wastebook released by now-retired Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

The grant aims to “create a new communication network for fossil enthusiasts and professionals" and provides a “web-based education community that connects people with a shared interested in paleontology” and allows users to easily input and share data.

But as the 2014 Wastebook points out, this funding is both unnecessary and duplicative. While the grant recipients claim that fossil enthusiasts desperately need a communication network there are many ways to facilitate discussion in today’s digital age without spending millions. In fact, there are already several online fossil communities including the “Fossil Forum” with 11,000 registered members.

It is not surprising that the NSF has wasteful spending habits. The agency has faced criticism for its spending decisions for years. In 2011 reports found that the NSF wasted nearly $1.2 billion of its $6.9 billion budget due to waste, fraud and duplication.